Maybe there is nothing to skim. If handz go into tank skimmate is low due to oils. I found that to get my skimmer to operate drier I dosed a cple of mls of vodka on a daily basis. Other guys dose it to reduce nitrates im the only malie dosing to help my skimmer.ps I can also feed fearlessly now

I try my best to keep my hands out of the tank, not dosing vodka, because in my opinion I have a hectic scrubber and refuge and tank seems to be running fine, wondering should I try starting with vodka ???

I try my best to keep my hands out of the tank, not dosing vodka, because in my opinion I have a hectic scrubber and refuge and tank seems to be running fine, wondering should I try starting with vodka ???

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It's not a bad idea - your skimmer will go bos and provided that u read up on dosages your tank will be better for it.

@Sammy just a word of caution, before going with a carbon sorce dosing routine please research it carefully.

as for the skimmer.. i am puzzled.. is the water level in the chamber not fluctuating? causing an erratic skimming action? this was the main reason i chose to go with an external skimmer as i could have more controll on the waterlevels and flows fed to it..

Cones/semi cons skimmers are very sensitive to changes in water levels..

Is that the BB3000? I have the same skimmer, have never been able to convince it to skim dry. So I just let it be. Also very sensitive to acitivities around the tank. Sometime even a water change will make it overflow. So when I work on the system I allways turn off the skimmer and turn it on some time after.

Uhm. dont know the skimmer as such, but the skimmate in the one above looks perfect to me. Skimming wet the skimmate would almost be clear like water.
I would adjust any skimmer as follows.
I would not restrict the airflow at all, you not creating finer bubbles you are creating less bubbles. Now top end skimmers are rated on how much air they can suck, why would you want to degrade your skimmer. So get as much airflow as possible mixed with as much water as possible from the feed pumps. Open your gate valve as wide as possible. If it still over skims from there raise the skimmer until it stops skimming. Now you can focus on the gate valve to raise the water in the skimmer to where you want it.
But as i stated above, the skimmate in the skimmer above looks perfect.

looks like only one sump chamber? if so does the evaporation and top up take place in that chamber? guessing it could be your water level then. i always battled against fluctuation causing to skimm too wet

@leslie hempel, yes I don't think I will go the vodka way yet,. my tank seems perfect, no algae worrying me, so I won't try to fix what's not broke.

To all others, thanks so much for the input, I do have an ATU so the water level stable, also I guess the skimmate looks ok, I just wanted some more coffee in the skimmer cup. As stated before I do very sensitively use the gate valve to adjust my water level, so to get the wet skimmate is easy, I just wanted more thick gunky output.

@Sammy .... Hey Andre, trust u doing well... 1stly , like they said, those skimmers are dificult, it took me 5 months to get my SUPERBB xp5000int to skim semi-dry . But nice dark smelly skimate.... 1st thing which helped 90% of the way is atu system, once water level was stable it got so much easier . I would adjust a little a day, @ the moment I skim in 1cm in the cup an get good skimmate.... It takes time and patience,u will succeed